NorCal legend MacKay dies at 76

   Barry MacKay, a Northern California tennis legend, died Friday in San Francisco after a long illness. He was 76.
   MacKay left an indelible mark as a player, tournament director, promoter and commentator. Nicknamed "The Bear," he was among the friendliest and best-liked members of the tennis community.
   Renowned coach and commentator Brad Gilbert won the San Francisco title in 1989, when MacKay was the tournament director. 
   "Just heard the sad news," Brad Gilbert, a Bay Area native, said on atpworldtour.com. "Barry MacKay, one of the greats and without question one of the real good guys in tennis, passed away."
   A native of Dayton, Ohio, MacKay won the 1957 NCAA title while playing for Michigan. He competed on the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1956 through 1960, reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 1959 and earned the top seeding in the 1960 French Championships.
   MacKay was ranked No. 1 in the United States in 1960 and that year received the Bob Hope Award as the Amateur Athlete of the Year. He turned pro in 1961 and played on Jack Kramer's tour for three years.
   After his playing career, MacKay served as the tournament director of the Pacific Coast Championships (now the SAP Open) as it moved from Berkeley to Daly City to San Jose. He also promoted two Davis Cup finals in the United States.
   The SAP Open will be held at HP Pavilion, the home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, one last time next February. Unable to draw many top players in recent years, it will be replaced on the calendar by Rio de Janeiro.
   MacKay was a popular tennis commentator on television for decades until his death. Most recently, he called matches for Tennis Channel and Fox Sports Network. He was well-known for his catchphrase "And there it is" when match point was converted.
   ATP World Tour -- Sam Querrey, a San Francisco native, topped Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in a quarterfinal between unseeded players in the Aegon Championships on grass at Queen's Club in London.
   Querrey, 24, is scheduled to play five matches for the Sacramento Capitals during the World TeamTennis season next month. He reached his first semifinal on the ATP World Tour since repeating as the Los Angeles champion in 2010. The 6-foot-6 right-hander underwent surgery to remove bone spurs from his right elbow last June and missed three months.
   Querrey will face another Croat, sixth-seeded Marin Cilic, in the semis. Also 6-foot-6, Cilic beat Querrey in five sets in the second round at Wimbledon in 2009 in their only previous meeting.
   Also Friday, second-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan of Wesley Chapel, Fla., won two matches to reach the doubles semifinals.
   Men's Futures -- Both the top seed and last week's Sacramento champion lost in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 Chico Futures at the Chico Racquet Club & Resort.
   No. 1 Tennys Sandgren of Gallatin, Tenn., fell to fifth-seeded Fritz Wolmarans of South Africa 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3, and No. 6 Devin Britton of Brandon, Miss., was eliminated by No. 3 Michael McClune of Irvine 6-2, 6-3. McClune, a Sacramento quarterfinalust, has not lost more than three games in a set in three Chico matches.
   In today's semifinals at 10 a.m., McClune will face Wolmarans, and fourth-seeded Kento Takeuchi of Japan will meet unseeded Phillip Simmonds of Reston, Va. Simmonds won the Sacramento doubles title with Vahid Mirzadeh of Wellington, Fla. 

WEEKEND TV SCHEDULE

(All matches on Tennis Channel; all times PDT)

   Today -- Halle (men), semifinals, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (delay); Queen's Club (men), semifinals, 2-6 p.m. (delay); Birmingham (women), semifinals, 6-10 p.m. (delay).
   Sunday -- Bad Gastein (women), final, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. (delay); Queen's Club (men), final, 1-3 p.m. (delay), 7-9 p.m. (repeat); Birmingham (women), final, 3-5 p.m. (delay); Halle (men), final, 5-7 p.m. (delay).

CALENDAR  

   Today -- NorCal 18 Junior Sectional Championships, Sacramento State, boys and girls singles quarterfinals at 8 a.m., singles semifinals at 11:30 a.m., girls doubles quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m., boys doubles quarterfinals at 3 p.m., www.norcal.usta.com.
   Today -- $15,000 Chico Futures, Chico Racquet Club & Resort, 1629 Manzanita Ave., Chico, singles semifinals at 10 a.m., www.chicoracquetclub.com.
   Sunday -- NorCal 18 Junior Sectional Championships, Sacramento State, boys and girls singles finals at 9:30 a.m., girls doubles final at 2 p.m., boys doubles final at 4:30 p.m., www.norcal.usta.com.
   Sunday -- $15,000 Chico Futures, Chico Racquet Club & Resort, 1629 Manzanita Ave., Chico, singles and doubles finals, times TBA, www.chicoracquetclub.com.
   JUNE 25-JULY 8 -- WIMBLEDON, www.wimbledon.com.
   July 7-15 -- WTA, Bank of the West Classic, Stanford, www.bankofthewestclassic.com.
   July 9 -- World TeamTennis, Sacramento Capitals' season opener at Boston, 4 p.m., www.saccaps.com.

   July 12 -- World TeamTennis, Capitals' home opener (with Mardy Fish) vs. Kansas City, Sunrise Marketplace Stadium, Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, 7:35 p.m., www.saccaps.com.

Wang's weird background, etc.

   Of all the players in the recent $15,000 Futures tournaments in Sacramento and Chico, Jimmy Wang almost certainly has the weirdest background.

   A 26-year-old Taiwanese veteran born in Saudi Arabia and given an American nickname, Wang reached a career-high No. 85 in the world in 2006 before missing three years because of two operations on his right (playing) wrist.

   Wang’s mother worked as a physician in Saudi Arabia, but the family moved back to Taiwan when Jimmy was 3 months old. His nickname has nothing to do with Jimmy Connors. When Wang was 8, an English teacher dubbed him Jimmy. His given name is Yeu-Tzuoo.

   Ten years ago in the juniors, Wang reached the Australian Open and U.S. Open finals and the Wimbledon semifinals to ascend to No. 3 in the world. After graduating to the men’s tour, he advanced to the second round in three Grand Slam tournaments (the Australian Open in 2006 and Wimbledon in 2006 and 2007).

   But then Wang sat out from November 2007 to November last year while undergoing surgery for a torn ligament and then a bone spur. When asked how he hurt his wrist, Wang said, “I wish I knew.”

   After dropping out of the rankings, Wang has soared from No. 1,009 to No. 491 since his return. He reached the singles semifinals of the Park Terrace Pro Tennis tournament in Sacramento and teamed with his coach, Vahe Assadourian of the Gorin Tennis Academy in Granite Bay, to win the doubles title of the Balbutin’s Chico Pharmacy Tennis Classic.

   “It’s good to be back,” Wang said. “I don’t know how to describe (how much I missed tennis). Every day I followed tennis. I grew up in tennis. My whole family played. It’s what I’m used to.”

   He’s changing his game to Wang 2.0, though.

   “I’m more aggressive,” he said. “I’m changing the technique on my serve and forehand and the way I move. I’m sick of the old way. I’m updating myself.”

   Oh, brother – France’s Antoine Benneteau, a singles semifinalist in the Park Terrace tournament, is the younger brother of Julien Benneteau, ranked 106^th in the world after climbing to a career-high No. 32 last July.

   Christian Harrison, a 17-year-old resident of Bradenton, Fla, who lost in the first round of Park Terrace, is the brother of Ryan Harrison, ranked No. 101 in the world at 19 years old.

   Oh, Canada – Growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, Philip Bester played tennis instead of hockey.

   “But sometimes I think to myself that in my future life, I would really love to be a hockey player,” the 22-year-old Chico singles champion said. “I’m a huge hockey fan.”

   Bester’s beloved Vancouver Canucks recently lost to the visiting Boston Bruins in the deciding seventh game of the Stanley Cup Finals.

   “It was very disappointing, more so what a small group of people did afterward with all the rioting downtown, but it was a very entertaining season that the Canucks put up,” said Bester, who attended Games 1 and 2 in Vancouver. “We’ll get (the Stanley Cup) next year.”

   Learning self-reliance – Sometimes, it’s better not to have a coach.

   “Last year, I was without a coach, and I felt that helped me the most,” Bester said. “I was just figuring out things on my own and not having somebody else tell me.”

  The 229^th-ranked Bester, however, resumed working with Jon Sorbo of Toronto at the beginning of this year.

   Wish you were here – Florida apparently agrees with Granite Bay resident Artem Ilyushin and former Sacramento State star Kiryl Harbatsiuk.
   Ilyushin, a native of Vladivostok, Russia, who recently completed his junior year at Mississippi State, reached his first Futures final Saturday. Unseeded, he fell to eighth-seeded Rhyne Williams, the runner-up in the NCAA championships at Stanford in May as a Tennessee sophomore, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 Sunday in the $10,000 PressEx Print Open in Innisbrook, Fla.
   In doubles, Ilyushin advanced to the final of last week's $10,000 MIMA Foundation Pro Tennis Classic in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., and the semifinals in Innisbrook.
   Harbatsiuk -- a native of Minsk, Belarus, playing in his third tournament as a professional -- reached the singles semifinals in Indian Harbour Beach. He beat Ilyushin 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals before falling to top seed and eventual champion Jesse Levine by the same score.       

      

        

Harvard Law School can wait

   CHICO – Philip Bester’s future is on the court. Blake Strode’s is in one.

   The top-seeded Bester bested the sixth-seeded Strode 6-4, 6-2 in the wind Sunday to win the $15,000 Balbutin’s Chico Pharmacy Tennis Classic at the Chico Racquet Club & Resort.

   Don’t feel bad for Strode, though. He has an acceptance to Harvard Law School waiting for him if he gives up professional tennis in the next three years.

   Bester, meanwhile, continued his rise in the world rankings with his fifth career Futures singles title but first this year. Ranked No. 244 entering the tournament, he rose to a career-high No. 229 and could crack the top 200 soon.

   Bester and Strode are both slim, 6-foot-2 right-handers with powerful serves and forehands. They are also close in age at 22 and 23, respectively.

   That’s where the similarities end, though. Bester is a white Canadian from Vancouver, Strode a black American from St. Louis.

   Bester attended the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., for four years as a teenager, reached the French Open junior boys final at 17 and turned pro at the same age.

   Strode stayed home to attend Pattonville High School, graduated from the University of Arkansas in economics and Spanish in 2009 and reached the singles semifinals of the NCAA championships the same month.

   Finally, Bester has a one-handed backhand, whereas Strode uses two hands on that wing.

   Bester’s impressive array of shots also includes a crisp volley. The mental side, however, has taken longer to develop than his shots.

   “I’ve become mentally tougher,” said Bester, who has improved his year-end ranking from No. 809 to No. 510 to No. 278 in the past three years. “I’ve learned to close out games when I need to. I’ve learned to just play the game of tennis smarter and not always go out on the court and feel like I have to win. It’s been a big mental battle, and I feel I’ve gotten much stronger mentally.”

   Bester’s experience was the difference Sunday as he coped with the wind better than Strode. Aside from several aborted service tosses, Bester appeared largely unaffected. Strode, however, repeatedly mis-hit the ball and grew increasingly agitated, overhitting his forehand several times in the second set. 

   “I knew the conditions were going to be tough,” Bester said, “and I’ve learned from experience that when it’s windy, instead of getting frustrated, (it’s better to) try to use it to my advantage.

   “I know the ball is going to be moving just as much on his side of the net as it is on mine, so it was important for me to hit to bigger targets than usual to give myself a bigger margin for error and make (fewer) unforced errors than my opponent.”

   Strode, ranked No. 543 entering the tournament, had his nine-match Futures winning streak stopped after ending Daniel Kosakowski’s run at eight matches in the semifinals. Strode, coming off a Futures title in Tampa, Fla. last month, said he “just made too many mistakes” against Bester.

   “I was struggling with the ball moving around a little bit in this wind, and he was being really consistent,” continued Strode, whose father, Lester, is the bullpen coach for the Chicago Cubs. “He was playing smart, using a lot of slices and kind of letting the conditions do some of the work.

   “That’s what you have to play through sometimes, and I didn’t do a good job of playing solid on a lot of the bigger points. … With him and the conditions, it was a double whammy – hard to deal with.”

   Strode won the first six points of the match, but it was downhill from there. After both players held serve for 1-1, Strode trailed the rest of the way.

   When Bester broke serve twice to lead 4-1, it appeared he would breeze – so to speak – in the first set. But then he lost his serve for the only time in the match. Strode fought back to 4-5 before Bester held serve for the set.

   Strode lost his serve in the first game of the second set on a mis-hit backhand and was broken again, with the help of two consecutive loose forehands from 40-15, to trail 2-5. Bester converted his second match point when a Strode backhand sailed long.

   Strode said he still plans to attend Harvard Law School before his annual deferrals expire. Bester also hopes graduation is in his future – to the ATP Tour, the major leagues of tennis.

   “I knew from the beginning (pro tennis) was going to take a lot of hard work, that it’s not just going to come to me,” he said. “It’s not easy traveling and being away from home and going from place to place every week, but it’s a part of it, and I’m very thankful I have the opportunity to do this for a living.

   “I really want to take it in as much as possible and do everything I can so that one day I look back and don’t have any regrets.”